Test-taking in South Korea

Point me at the SKY

LUNCHTIME, it is held, would be the optimal time to invade France. Little can distract a Frenchman from his sacred noonday repast. In South Korea, that opportunity could be the Thursday in the second week of every November. On November 7th this year stock markets, public offices and banks all opened an hour late, the army halted aviation exercises and police units marshalled traffic, as over 650,000 18-year-olds took the annual, state-administered suneung, or College Scholastic Aptitude Test (CSAT), an eight-hour-long exam that is their main ticket to study at one of South Korea’s top universities, and thence—for the lucky few—to a coveted job in the government, the bank or at one of the country’s chaebol, its massive family-owned conglomerates.

Good-luck sweeties

The five-part, multiple-choice admissions test is the quintessence of Korea’s Confucian passion for education, which stretches back to the Goryeo and Chosun dynasties—and hangovers from that time abound. A traditional sweet, known as yeot, and other sticky treats, such as rice cakes and chocolate, are given to students for luck, and sometimes plastered on school gates. That harks back to gwago, a civil-service exam that flourished in the Chosun era, when the names of successful candidates were posted on government buildings. Suneung takers are therefore encouraged to “stick it”, (though the English word fighting!, a Korean rallying cry, is now equally popular). The specific term used to pass the exam—keubchae—is from Chosun times too. And the importance of the state-administered exam has barely diminished since those days; in a country where some 75% of high-school-leavers go on to university, many deem the test the chief battle in ibshichonchaeng: entrance-exam war. Every year, just 2% get into Korea’s prestigious SKY universities, whose nickname is an acronym for Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University.

The vice-principal of Joongang high school in Seoul says pupils have prepared “almost their entire life for this day”. Certainly they have spent much of the past 12 years on it. They begin to take mock suneung at the age of 16 and by their final school year many sit them monthly. Hwang Won-sang, a bright pupil who hopes to study physics at Korea University, joined a study group that practised according to the schedule of the exam every day for a week, so that his body could adjust to its rhythm. For weeks leading up to the day itself, his mother tested a different lunchbox menu every Saturday, when the school’s canteen closes (in the end he selected abalone congee, said to be good for stamina and easy to digest). Fearing that a full dose of cough medicine might set off his allergies, Won-sang began taking small doses every day—in order to build his resistance, in case he caught a cold on the day of the exam and was forced to take it then. Such is the significance of the test that invigilators receive special training; high heels, perfume and noisy sweet wrappers are banned, though every year brings a fresh set of student complaints (including the problem of invigilators sniffling, sighing or standing in one place for too long).

Mothers are the sole guardians of their children’s education (one rare father, caught praying for his son’s success at Jogyesa temple in central Seoul—pictured below—was proud to give his wife credit for “99% of the effort” involved in preparing their child). Many wait outside the school gates until the moment the exams begin, at which time they leave to pray. Won-sang’s mother planned to visit church, to spend the day in suneung prayer (the congregation’s prayers follow the exams and breaks of the students, to offer them mental support at the right time). She attended special prayers every day for 100 days in the lead-up to suneung. Another mother at Saemoonan Presbyterian Church said she wanted to “share the whole exam experience” with her daughter. She has been attending weekly suneung prayers for five years (her eldest sat the test two years ago). One flustered parent, delayed in arriving at Jogyesa temple, fretted that she was “too late” to help her son. Many take a more hands-off approach, though: a mother at Jogyesa temple, who said she had come to calm her nerves, thought many of the other mothers to be overbearing. She had “simply prepared good meals”, splashing out a few times, she says, on pricey Korean hanwoo beef.

Despite its excesses, the system is appealingly meritocratic. A majority of Korean youngsters pin their hopes on the exam. This distinguishes it from gwago, which was always a privilege of the educated elite. That is chiefly due to Korea’s top ranking in educational provision: 98% of young Koreans now complete an upper secondary education, according to the OECD. Pupils face the same set of standardised questions all over the country. Numerous about-turns in the history of the test (it has weathered about a dozen major changes since 1945, according to the ministry of education) are mostly the result of repeated efforts to make it fairer.

Lee Myung-bak, a former president, insisted that 1% of students be able to achieve top scores. He introduced a two-track system, previously reserved for maths, for the test’s other two major papers, Korean and English, thus allowing students to choose their difficulty level. In 1993 a TV channel, EBS, began broadcasting extra tuitions specifically for suneung takers; Mr Lee stipulated that 70% of the test’s content be based on the EBS course (which is now available online too). And the government offers financial rewards to universities that consider other measures of success: POSTECH, a top scientific university, selected all of its 2009 undergraduates without reference to academic records or written tests. There are others that grant a lucky few an unconditional offer on the basis of their high-school record alone (the method is known as su-shi).

The way the whole country mobilises itself for the future of its young can be arresting. Planes are rerouted or grounded for half an hour during the afternoon’s English-language listening test. Some taxi drivers escort suneung students to the test centres for free. Policemen are on hand to whisk laggards to school on time by motorbike. Even protesters will often suspend their demonstrations for the day. Mothers praying and chanting in unison at temples countrywide place photographs of their child wearing a school uniform before them, and sometimes the exam’s timetable too. A teacher of Korean literature from Paemoon high school in Seoul has travelled to test centres to support his students every year for the past 25 years. Younger siblings and pupils cheer them on, to the clamour of cymbals and drums. Students receive lucky gifts of forks (that they may “stab the right answer”) and toilet paper, whose name in Korean is a homonym for solving questions (notice one young man has a roll on his desk in the picture)—but avoid seaweed and bananas, lest you slip up.

Yet over-reliance on a single measure of success has distorted the distribution of talent in the country. Hagwon, after-hours cram schools, persist in making it an unfair race to the top. But parents’ and teachers’ single biggest frustration with the exam is that pupils only have one shot at it. Though some choose to retake it the following year, failure carries a heavy stigma (students are not allowed to count only the better grade). Many parents question the utility of an exam that their children think “determines their destiny”. Teachers may be saddened to see a scene that is typical at schools around the country today: pupils throw their textbooks out of the window, dumping them onto a pile in the school courtyard.

As a Korean who has gone through SCAT, I cannot agree that all the students strive to enter SKY universities. All the Korean students want to enter the Seoul National University, single prestigious 'god-like' university. And those who fail to enter SNU will go to Korea and Yonsei univs, and so on. And those who enter SNU will be marked with the 'highest price tag' that will differentiate them from other people no matter what they do in this competitive society. Koreans are fully aware of this, and all the Korean parents have every reason to do whatever it takes to make their sons/daughters enter prestigious Seoul National University. Praying is a easiest thing you can do as a Korean parents with children.
No wonder why Korean women are on a permanent baby-strike. As a Korean myself, I am not willing to bear a child for the sake of myself and the child himself.

Stating total debt of a nation in dollar amount does not mean anything--It should be compared with its GDP. I'm too lazy to search on Google to find out what the debt to GDP ratio is for Korea but you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. Foreign debts and ownerships aren't always bad. In fact, it's bad to have no debt especially when interest rates are generally low around the world.
South Korea has accomplished tremendous economic success over the past 5-6 decades and no one can deny that. There are too many ways to compare numbers but the bottom line is the standard living in Korea has improved significantly and that's what really matters. Not the unemployment rate and not the GDP.
You made me laugh when you said North Korea has far better chance of becoming a developed country than South Korea. You really think that a North Korea has better chance to grow under dictatorship?...
They did pretty good job over the past decades and there is no need for bashing. Also, think about how small this country is. Last but not least, I highly recommend that you take ECON 101 again.

Well, the country strated from $60 per capita in 1960 and now became a developed nation that is now placed 12th in HDI list with very high purchasing power. The growth formula worked in the past and I really think the achievement is very amazing. Non-Koreans can bash this crazy education system and say, look what they are doing. But, we all have to pause and think about this; was there any other better solution for war-torn poor country like South Korea in 1960 to develop this quickly? was there any other nation on this planet that ascended from ODA recipient to ODA donor honestly though? If you think about the circumstances back in 1960, anyone will understand why South Koreans are crazy about the education. The circumstance was different from post war Germany or Japan. The Korean case was very unique and quite distinctive one. What matters the most here is that Korea had perhaps the most miraculous growth for the situation they had. However, this growth formula does not work now and rather it hurts their growth at this present time. South Korean government is not stupid as far as I know and they will, little by little, fix this problem. If they could have done miraculous job in the past, I believe they can do better job in the future.

South Koreans tend to brag about economic success. However this is pathetic ignorant self-indulging idiocy. South Koreans should rather lament economic failures. Many South Korean companies are fully foreign owned. Half of the other companies' shares are owned by foreigners. Basically South Korean economy is mostly foreign owned. Korea is re-colonised by foreigners. This foreign ownership is getting bigger and bigger day by day. Furthermore South Korea has huge foreign debts totalling several hundreds of billions of dollars. Basically South Korea is financially bankrupt. Braging economic success is totally absurd!

If you add South Korea's foreign debts and foreign ownership, South Korea's combined foreign liability is astronomical. To repay the combined liability, South Korea will require "super austerity" for at least 100 years. It's very easy to see why North Korea has far better chance to become a developed country than South Korea. North Korea at least doesn't have this kind of foreign debts and owership.

When foreigners' capital leaves, South Korea immediately faces dire foreign exchange crisis, as it happened twice before, resulting in economic collapse. This is the event that South Korean government fears the most. There was a Korean guy who wrote and lamented about this dire financial situations on internet forums. He was arrested and indicted by South Korea's fascist government. You should have seen this from your local TV news. I saw several times on prime-time TV news. I think he was exonerated by court as international pressure mounted. From this event, you can guess how little freedom South Koreans have, especially press freedom! Koreans are brainwashed to believe that its economy is very good and its achievement is a miracle, which is bullsh*t!

South Koreans tend to compare economic growth with the own past. Not with other similar countries' achievement such as Germany and Japan. During the WWII, the economy of Japan and Germany was totally destroyed. So Korean economy was better off than Germany and Japan after the WWII. Korea achieved very little compared to Germany and Japan. Current South Korea's Per Capita GDP is just half of that of Japan and Germany. Furthermore Germany and Japan have huge piles of foreign exchange saving as international lendings and investments. On the other hand, Korea is bankrupt and relies on foreign capital imports. If you compare with Germany and Japan, South Korea is a clear case of economic failures. As South Korea's growth rate stagnated, it fell into the middle income trap. South Korea is not going to catch up Japan or Germany!

The first thing that South Korea needs is full press freedom so that they can freely discuss the root causes of econmic crisis. Otherwise chronic economic crisis won't go away.

I in many ways prefer the American university admissions system, despite all the flaws. By just adding a fair bit of randomness to the system, you can avoid much of the stress of admissions by treating results with an attitude of Que Sera Sera. You could be the smartest, most hardworking, popular person in the country, but still not get into Harvard or Stanford because the admissions officer was having a bad day, or was bullied by someone with your name, or someone from your high school backed out on an Early Decision a few years ago.

It's better to think that, than that you could have studied harder, had fewer friends, slept an hour less every night, eaten more kale and quinoa or whatever.

South Korea's education fever is a legacy of Park JungHee's fascist dictatorship. Park's regime nurtured rote-learning practices to brainwash people. Rote-learning makes private tutoring popular. As a consequence, Korean parents spend huge amounts of money for private tutoring which is basically rote-learning practices. This is a huge problem for Korea. Note that rote-learning produces brainless dudes! I saw a number of Korean students who had impeccable undergraduate records from Korea's top universities but failed or performed poorly in research and essay-paper oriented post-graduate studies. They are idiots. Korean universities are extensions of high-schools, teaching rote-learning. Advanced university years suppose to focus on research-oriented essay-papers. This is not the case in Korea.

This is also an Archilles hill for Korean industries. Korean industries employ this kind of dudes. You don't expect them to be innovative. Korean education system favors students who are good at remembering things and have parents who can afford expensive private tutoring. And it makes disadvantegous for students with thinking brain. Korean universitoes are in fact sending students who excel in rote-learning to industries. Industries suffer as a result. Except some firms, Korean companies make shoddy products. That's what Korean industries can manage with rote-learners.

Rote-learning makes people dumb. This's why Koreans keep electing fascists because they are easily brainwashed. The result is that Korea suffers from the middle income trap and economic crisis. Electing fascists is cardinal sin normally punished with financial crisis.

Korea needs urgent university reforms. They should teach students based on self and group research using research essay papers. Not using rote-learning and text books! Learning through research is the best education method. But I doubt that Korea will do this important education reforms.

I'm a 3rd grade student of Korean high school. As article said, I already took suneung. It's quite interesting to seeing 'my' life in view of foriegners. This article has an extensive knowledge about general Korean education and its tradition. I really enjoyed.

Wow!
I would long ago have died if I had to deal with such pressure.
Even when dealing with the relatively modest pressure that we Indians deal with for 10th std and PUC exams, I had a hell of a time resisting suicide.

I am all for a stringent, cut-throat, competitive pre-University exams in East Asia and India. The process is tough, often ruthless but extremely equal opportunity. Such exams often rely on ranking or relative grading, at the outset. That over-writes the existing social station and rewrites a new order completely based on meritocracy. Much better than black-box admission processes in Oxbridge or American Ivy-leagues which often relabels existing aristocracy. Not to mention this process makes professional recruitment lot more equitable - decoupled from subjective factors like looks, pedigree, accent and overall charm-offensive. French are way more fair and egalitarian bunch with their "Classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles".

It is interesting the role of religion, superstition, and idiosyncratic behaviors in
--what is seen from the outside-- as a commendably meritocratic process.
---
Humans need both the rational and irrational thinking.
And seek the supernatural when confronted with ultimate fears.

But I thank God that you did. So much is pkaced on education in developing countries as your sole ticket out of a destiny of drudgery that in Nigeria where I come from some do attempt suicide. For the privileged class duch as me, we come to the USA and sail through their easy exams after years of practice.

I can only imagine what America would be like if we had 1/10 of the hive mentality Asian cultures seem to have. ACT/SAT/etc. preparation was and is serious, but a relatively huge portion of our student population either fails to graduate high school or does so and decides to enroll in some tragic "go to college in your pajamas" online school becoming disproportionately indebted. Of course, not everyone "should" go to college, and the educational industry in this country does a great job of preying upon and crushing those who it convinces need to take out loans to get worthless degrees.

There is some mandatory standardized testing at the state level (e.g., MEAP in Michigan), but that is more to determine the health of the primary school system (public and otherwise).

How South Korea became such a bankrupt economy? It takes a dictator to ruin the economy. Basically South Korea's economy was ruined by fascist dictator Park JungHee. Dictators fear grassroot riots. Dictators need to take care economy very seriously. Park borrowed lots of money from overseas and lent to his corrupt cronies to build factories to employ people. This accumulated huge foreign debts and created heavily indebted companies.

Under this kind of situation, stock and financial markets suffer. Lack of local capitals and weak stock prices is a consequence of Park's economic policies. Then, South Korea opened financial markets to foreigners to join OECD and participate globalisation. South Korean shares were under-valued. So they are easy pickings for foreign investors. South Korea stock market was overtaken by foreigners. Unable to handle sudden influx of foreign exchanges, South Korea's central banks squanders them by investing in toxic assets. Korean stock market became Casino Mundial for foreign speculators. Lack of local capitals, Korean economy was taken hostage to foreign speculators. When foreigners leave en masse, South Korea gets foreign exchange crisis and thus economic collapse.

If Korea accumulated enough foreign exchange savings (or had enough local capitals) before the globalisation, South Korea won't have this kind of financial crisis. It's too late to do anything now.

There is no future for Korean economy. Koreans don't understand why Korea has this problem. Despite Park ruined Korean economy, Koreans elected the daughter of the fascist dictator as president. That's totally ridiculous. Koreans deserve more pain and doom. Koreans will be punished with more economic crisis for that.

I googled "South Korean scientist", and all I got was Hwang Woo-suk. Spare a thought for the rise in articles about the similar teenager problems in China. In ten years it's going to be Vietnamese hardworking children, with the same result: even Belgians will still have better education, demonstrated by higher productivity, higher GDP per capita etc